RAMALLAH, Wednesday, August 07, 2019 (WAFA) – Palestinian and international pressure succeeded in getting Israel to back down on a decision preventing Palestinians from importing vaccines except from countries it specifies, today said Minister of Health May Kailah.

She said at a press conference in Ramallah that the international community, the United Nations Children‘s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Ministry of Health have exerted pressure on Israel to reverse its decision to prevent entry of vaccines except from certain countries.

Israel has decided to prevent the entry of vaccines into Palestine except from countries determined by the Israeli authorities, which means a significant increase in the financial cost to the Palestinian government and interruption of the vaccination program.

She stressed that this would ensure the continuity of the national vaccination program in Palestine, which WHO said it was one of the most effective in the Middle East and has eradicated many communicable and infectious diseases such as polio, neonatal poisoning and smallpox and reduced many others such as hepatitis B, measles, rubella and whooping cough.

K.T./M.K.